


A Candlenights Carol

by Burrahobbit



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Baking, Candlenights, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Christmas Presents, Fix-It, Ice Skating, M/M, Spoilers for all of TAZ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-10 05:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11685264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burrahobbit/pseuds/Burrahobbit
Summary: The Hunger is defeated, the world is saved, and the planes previously consumed are freed from their prison. To Merle's surprise, John is saved with them.So the cleric of Pan makes it his job to teach this broken man how to live, love, and the meaning of Candlenights.(Or: Ten easy traditions for the holiday season)





	A Candlenights Carol

**Author's Note:**

> Found from @fanficy-prompts on tumblr: You’re kind of a scrooge and it’s up to me to show you the true meaning of holiday spirit au
> 
> Yes, I know it's not Christmas yet. Screw timing, I'm doing this anyways.

It was when Merle was decorating festively around his home that he had a very startling realization, one that changed his entire perspective on John.

John had no idea what Candlenights was.

It started casual enough. While he hung up decorative lights and tinsel, John offered to help, though he seemed confused. Merle questioned (needled) him about what was bothering him, being the sweet dwarf he was.

"I just don't understand what all the decoration is about," he said.

Merle stopped cold. He turned, slowly, to look at his friend.

"You mean you don't know about Candlenights?" Merle asked.

John shook his head. "I mean, we had holidays on my original world, but the details are fuzzy. As you know, it's been a very long time."

Nearly dropping the decorations in his hands, the dwarf shined with excitement. He said, "I can't believe I have to teach you about _Candlenights,"_ but it's obvious that he wasn't really annoyed at all.

"No need. I never really saw the point in it all."

"You're lying."

With a shrug, John began to pin up another decoration. "I'm really not. It's just... not really my thing." Before he had even finished talking, Merle was making plans in his head to turn John to his side. Nobody disliked Candlenights! It was the perfect, all-inclusive holiday!

While John finished the basic decorating, Merle went off and made a simple list of his favorite traditions - after all, with his memory, he'd likely forget. He figured he'd start off easy, then work his way through.

Merle was going to get John into the holiday spirit, no matter what it took.

**1\. Hot Chocolate**

The easiest of anything he'd thought of, Merle quickly set to work that night to make the perfect hot chocolate. Well, nothing could really beat Lup and Taako's, but he worked hard for second best.

They'd been given temporary housing in Neverwinter, considering that the damage to the moon base made in nearly unlivable at the moment.

And, since they saved the world, it was free, and Merle loved free things.

That being said, the kitchen was a bit... lackluster in its appliances.

He was no master chef like the twins, but - all things considered - it turned out pretty good.

Merle handed John the mug, then sat down next to him on the couch. 

The man inspected it closely, a small frown on his face.

Merle rolled his eyes. "Just drink the damn thing. It's not like it's gonna kill ya!"

With a small sigh, John took a small sip, scrunching his face up at the first contact with it. "It's... very hot," was all he said before setting the cup down.

Mumbling something under his breath about John being a baby, Merle took his own sip. It was very hot, burning his tongue immediately. He pretended not to care.

John picked out a book to read that night and settled into the couch. He didn't touch the mug again all night except to clean it out.

So, that was kind of a disaster, but nothing more sweets couldn't take care of, right?

**2\. Cookies**

Admittedly, the baking was a disaster.

Merle barely knew his way through a kitchen, much less cooking anything. It was several days after he had begun gathering ingredients and reading up on how to make cookies, and he had felt prepared to take on this task. Obviously, he was wrong about that.

At least he hadn't burned down the house, right?

John realized what was happening when the burning smell reached him, and came over to make sure everything was alright.  
Of course, Merle had it under control. His friend watched as the burnt cookies were thrown into the trash.

"Do you... need any help?"

Merle huffed, putting the tray down and taking off the tacky oven mitts he stole from Taako. "No, it's fine."

John looked at the scrap of paper Merle had on the table, reading it over. "You were making... cookies?"

"Well, yeah. Cookies are great! I figured, why not, y'know?"

There was no response to this. John picked the paper up, seeming to be reading it over again. He messed with the knobs on the stove, then pulled out a clean bowl and began putting the ingredients listed inside.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Merle asked.

"Baking, apparently," he answered, pulling over the stool Merle had been using to reach the counter. "Now, are you going to help, or what?"

That was not exactly how Merle was expecting things to go. All the same, he climbed up, starting to mix what John had put into the bowl.

After a little over an hour, the cookies were done, and smelled delicious (and, thankfully, were not burned at all.) 

Merle had to admit, baking with someone else was a lot more fun than he thought it would be. He was kinda glad they were both wearing casual clothes, though. The kitchen, and their clothes, were a mess. That was mostly Merle's fault, though.

John triumphantly set the tray down and handed one to Merle, a wide smile appearing on his face.

The dwarf bit into it, smiling smugly back. "See? Maybe you do like holiday stuff."

John laughed, taking a cookie for himself. "Or maybe, I like spending time with you." He finished the cookie relatively quickly, then put the rest in a glass container and headed out of the kitchen.

That time didn't really feel like a triumph either. Ah well. A week later, they were onto number three.

**3\. Window Shopping**

Some of Neverwinter was still rebuilding, but it had faired much better than other cities had. That meant that by the time the holiday season came, rebuilt shops were already selling festive items.

He and John, bundled up in warm clothes, wandered the crowded streets, admiring the glittery and expensive items on display. Most of them were way out of his price range, but it wasn't as though he was expecting to buy anything today. 

At least, that's what he told himself. Merle had the urge to buy every shiny object that caught his eye in the window.

John was fairing much better than him, it seemed. At best, he was mildly interested in some items, but never more than that. For the most part, he was more focused on Merle than anything else.

They ended up wandering into a giant toy store. Merle said that he wanted to start looking at presents for Mavis and Mookie, but it was a lie (well, a partial lie - he did want to get started on that.)

In reality, there was a specific item he knew he had to buy. If it would be anywhere, a kid's store was the most likely place.

After searching around for a few minutes, he found the item he'd been looking for. It was small, and could easily fit in the palm of his hand. He carefully picked it up without John noticing.

With the excuse that he was going to find a bathroom, Merle sneakily bought the item and hid it in his oversized pocket coats, careful not to jostle it too much. 

After that, they wandered aimlessly around some more, but Merle was significantly less interested now that he had what he wanted.

It was the perfect item for the next thing on his list.

**4\. Holiday Songs**

Merle had bought a small, magical device that loudly projected the user's choice of holiday songs. He figured that had to get John into the Candlenights spirit, and if not, it would annoy him to death instead.

Putting it in a carefully chosen hiding spot - but somewhere it could still project music throughout the house - Merle waited for the perfect moment to turn it on.

When John was setting up their chess board only two days after, the dwarf finally decided it was time. He carefully turned on the music, waiting only a couple of seconds before he heard the beginning tune of 'Jingle Bell Jock' beginning to play.

John shot up in surprise when he heard the music unexpectedly begin to play. He immediately looked to Merle.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, nothing!"

John raised an eyebrow. He didn't believe Merle for a second.

"Okay, I might have bought an enchanted toy that plays music."

The man looked as though he had some choice words for Merle, but instead turned back to the task at hand.

"Fine, Merle. How about we play chess?" He gestured to the almost-finished board.

Laughing, the dwarf agreed. "Not sure if we'll be able to focus very well with the music playing though."

"You could turn it off."

"Hmmmm." He paused, fake-pondering what John had said. "I _could,_ but where's the fun in that?"

After only two days, John insisted that he needed to leave the house, unable to stand any more of it. Merle made plans to meet up and do activities with Magnus and Taako in the weeks left leading up to Candlenights, and suggested that John join them.

Reluctantly, he agreed.

**5\. Snowball Fights**

The rules were as follows: no magic, no fighting dirty, and no rocks. Taako and Merle were on one team, with John and Magnus on the other.

Admittedly, those rules weren't followed 100% of the time, but it was still fun.

Taako had stayed fairly aloof and nonchalant at the beginning, until a snowball hit him square in the face.

Then, it was on.

By the end, everyone was freezing, faces red and hands shivering. Magnus and John finally decided that it was time to stop, which Taako took as him winning.

When they got home, John made them both tea, and they huddled together under thick blankets as ‘Silent Night’ played.

Admittedly, cuddling was not on Merle’s Candlenights list, but he wasn't complaining. And, if their faces were tinged red for a reason other than the cold, well, that wasn't really a problem either.

**6\. Ice Skating**

Their next group activity was ice skating. Merle and Taako were alright at it, but Magnus was the best out of them, surprisingly. Or, he was the only one who could twirl without falling on his ass.

There was one small setback in Merle’s genius plan, however.

John had no idea how to ice skate.

Merle tried to help him get the ropes, showing him the movements with his feet and having John copy him. Any time he attempted to get his friend away from the side of the ice rink, however, John refused.

Merle let him be for a while, catching up to Magnus and goading him to do another twirl. Taako attempted to copy his action, and only just managed to stay on his feet. He ‘whooped’ loudly, doing it once more and making his skirt spin.

When Merle caught back up with John, the man was standing stock still, seemingly weighing the options in face of the obstacle before him.

There was a section of the rink blocked off for a couple of kids to practice some simple blocking moves for hockey with a teacher, effectively trapping John on that side of the wall.

When he noticed Merle approaching, he looked slightly relieved.

Which was good, cuz Merle could handle this.

“Take my hands,” the dwarf said, holding his hands out.

John looked from the wall over to his friend, then back to the wall.

“I don't know…”

“You can trust me. I won't let anything happen.”

John nodded, steeled himself, then let go of the wall.

Merle took his hands and began guiding him across to the other section. He tried to give helpful tips - ‘bend your knees, keep your feet straight, don't lean forward,’ - as he carefully skated backwards.

Following his instructions, John bent his knees carefully, looking down at his feet.

He glanced up at Merle, which was the wrong thing to do - their faces were inches apart, cold breath creating a cloud between them, Merle smiling at him-

John fell backwards onto his ass.

Merle took a moment to laugh before helping his friend up and the rest of the way to the wall. 

Now there was a damp circle on the back of John's pants, and his cheeks were pink with embarrassment.

“Don't worry about it,” Merle said, “it happens to everyone.”

**7\. Tree Decorating**

Candlenights was fast approaching, which meant it was time for the thing Merle had been putting off for a while. Not because he didn't like it, but he didn't exactly have a ton of ornaments.

Magnus got most of those.

That being said, he did still have a little collection, and he bought more as the holiday got closer and closer.

When it was time for the actual buying of the tree, John tried to persuade him to get something small, or fake. Merle was having none of it.

"What's the point of getting a tree if it's not real?" Merle said, pondering a tree intensely.

"It'll get pine needles all over the house," John countered. 

"So? We'll clean them up, no big deal." Merle moved to another tree.

With a sigh, the man followed him. "You mean _I'll_ clean them up."

Looking over at John, Merle pointed at one of the trees. "What about that one?"

"Can we get something at least a little smaller?"

Merle conceded, walking over to one of the shorter trees. Reluctantly, John nodded in approval, and the tree was bought, then taken to their house.

There was a box already out on the table filled with a wide range of things for hanging on the tree. They began their work slowly, Merle explaining the decorating process as he went, teaching John how to make the tree look pleasing in spite of the tacky ornaments.

Merle proudly showed off two that Mavis and Mookie had made for him, bragging about his children as John helped him put them close to the top.

When the tree was finished, it didn't look half bad.

After that, the dwarf explained the purpose of the tree, putting the presents he'd bought already under it.

John could tell Merle had wrapped them himself. If the tacky wrapping paper covered in snowmen and penguins didn't give it away, then the amount of rips and tape covering it certainly did.

"So... you just buy nice things for people?"

"Well, it's not as simple as that. It's kinda like a guessing game. You kinda gotta figure out what the other person wants without asking them."

John nodded seriously, obviously thinking about something. Merle didn't question it.

**8\. Presents**

On the night before Candlenights, Mavis and Mookie were going to be coming to Merle's to spend time with him. He was happy he would see them again, feeling as though he'd been away from them for too long, even though their last Extreme Teen Adventure had only been a month ago.

That's probably why he didn't notice John acting strangely for the better part of the day. When he finally did notice, the man avoided his questions.

Then he left for a while, which was even weirder - like, where would John go? Did he have plans today and just didn't tell Merle?

About an hour later, John stepped back through the front door, holding a large vase of flowers.

"Now, I know we're not supposed to give people presents before Candlenights," he began, putting the vase down. "But I figured, since we'd be out tomorrow, it'd be better to give this to you now." He was smiling, but seemed nervous. Was he afraid Merle wouldn't like it?

To dissuade that, Merle smiled widely back.

"This looks amazing! I'm not usually a big fan of yellow, but it compliments the pink really well."

"That's good. I mostly chose flowers with special meanings. Like, tulips are for prosperity, coral roses represent enthusiasm, while peonies-"

"I got it," Merle interrupted. "You don't need to tell me all of them. I'll never remember anyways. Just know that I appreciate it."

As luck would have it, his kids arrived only a moment later, and they were swept up in loud cheering and talking.

The whole time, John kept glancing at Merle, and Merle back at him.

The next day, the rest of the present giving/opening and dinner was being held at Taako's, since he was the one cooking. By the time Merle and John got there, Angus, Barry and Lup, and Davenport had arrived, presents already under the tree.

Once everyone had arrived, the present opening began. Merle got some pretty great presents - including an especially ugly Christmas sweater from Lucretia, which he immediately put on.

John, being the one everybody knew least, got less personal things - like socks. There were so many socks.

From Merle, he received 'Dating for Dummies' (which was either a jab at his personal life or out-right _flirting, a_ nd John wasn't sure how to deal with that) and a badly-drawn coupon for 'one free back rub', to which Merle admitted stealing the idea from Magnus.

In return, John handed his present to Merle over.

The dwarf raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you already gave me my present."

"That was more... part one."

Merle opened the box and took out several tropical-themed shirts. Laughing, he looked over each one.

"These are great." He paused, putting the shirts down. "I... I'm glad your here, John. With us."

John was grateful that Merle was pulled into another conversation, because - as dense as he was - the dwarf surely would have noticed his face turning red.

**9\. Candlenights Dinner**

The entire group moved to the large dining table filled with food, their conversations coming with. Angus told Taako of what he'd accomplished so far at school, the elf practically lighting up with pride. Lucretia informed them of the progress being made on rebuilding of the moon base, and her idea to rename the BoB the 'Bureau of Benevolence'. Davenport showed everyone some of the souvenirs he'd picked up from traveling so far.

John took all of it in, realizing that he, too, was glad to be here, surrounded by people and friendship for the first time in a very long time. 

Slowly, the dinner began to wind down. Clearing of the table was started, and everyone moved back into the living room. Merle revealed that he brought music, and started playing an up-beat holiday song.

Barry and Lup danced dorkily through the room, and others laughed, cheered, or followed their lead.

Merle pulled him and John away from the excitement, stopping when he felt that the music was quiet enough that they could talk.

"I just wanted to say, thank you. I know this isn't really your kind of scene, but you came with me anyways."

"Of course. I wouldn't have dreamed of missing this."

The dwarf nodded and looked up, a smirk appearing on his face. He pointed up to the ceiling, where a small plant with white berries was hanging.

The look on John's face told him that he knew exactly what it meant.

**10\. Mistletoe**

John leaned down, pressing their lips together. It was short, but both of them were grinning at each other afterwards. Merle grabbed onto the man's hand. 

"So, you like Candlenights yet?"

With a short laugh, he began leading them back to their friends.

"Yes, Merle. I believe I do."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just gonna let you all know that the ice skating thing was almost entirely based on my first experience ice skating last year. I fell right on the ground. It was fun.
> 
> Also, the flowers John gives to Merle all have double meanings, one innocent and the other romantic (i.e. Coral roses represent enthusiasm and desire.)  
> John is very much aware of this.  
> Shoutout to Ludella for making me headcanon that John knows flower meanings with her fic 'Zone of Trulips.


End file.
